


Sticking Together

by DragonofFernweh



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Attempted Rape, Attempted Sexual Assault, Cuban Lance (Voltron), Date Rape Drug/Roofies, Fluff, Hero Lance(tm), Hurt/Comfort, M/M, alien parties, also seriously don't take drinks/food from strangers at bars or parties, he doesn't understand them and no one told him about the safety rules, if you ever think you've been drugged or are in danger alert the bartender or a friend, it's minor but it's there, keith isn't a party person, klance, non-consensual drugging, saving fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-22
Updated: 2017-01-22
Packaged: 2018-09-19 03:10:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9415517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonofFernweh/pseuds/DragonofFernweh
Summary: Keith isn’t exactly up to date on social etiquette—forgive him for not going to a ton of parties as a kid. He’d been a bit busy trying to get by. He didn’t think he’d need “party skills” for being a defender of the universe, but when he and the other Paladins are invited to a celebration by a grateful planet’s ruler, of course Shiro accepts. No one thinks to tell Keith about a few good rules, such as the infamous “don’t take a drink from a stranger” one. Honestly, does Lance have to do everything?





	

_Never trust a man who howls at you like a wolf without treating you like the moon._

ღ

Keith couldn’t understand why they had to go to this “party” to begin with, much less why he, specifically, had to go. He had tried weaseling out of it, earlier, but Shiro wasn’t having it. Something about it being good for the team if they were to all go. It was that nonsense about keeping a good appearance and building ally relationships, things like that, that Shiro had to worry about. Thus, that left Keith with no other option than to go, otherwise he was sure either Shiro or Allura would be happy to drag him out of his room.

He tugged at his shirt collar for the umpteenth time, annoyed with the way the fabric clung to his throat. It was much older than him, but it felt pretty similar to the scratchy, stuffy suits back home. Allura and Coran had had to get the Paladins ready for a formal gathering. Considering none of them thought to bring their fancy clothes with them when they shot into space, Allura had lent them all some older Altean suits. Pidge had gotten stuffed into a dress, which she might have been cool with, had Allura not also made her wear a high-heeled pair of shoes. In Pidge’s words, “How can I attack anyone while I’m wearing these?!”

Keith agreed with her. These stuffy clothes were impractical—he wasn’t made for fancy, important gatherings. He was more for training, for staying behind and guarding the castle. Anything other than having to stand around for half the night while aliens gabbed around him. Keith didn’t even understand what you were supposed to do at stupid functions like this, did you stand around and look important? Or was he actually going to have to socialize and pretend to care about whatever bullshit passed for gossip in this place?

“You know, it wouldn’t kill you to smile. People usually smile at parties.” Keith cut his eyes to the side, where he could see Lance leaning into his peripheral vision. “Oh wait, don’t tell me, you know nothing about party etiquette?!” Lance slapped a hand over his chest while making the statement, as if in genuine surprise.

Well, now Keith _had_ to be good at this thing, great. “What is there to know, how to smile and pretend you care about whatever they’re giggling about?” he deadpanned, folding his arms, and trying not to look as out of place as he felt. Although, considering he was one of only five humans there, that was kind of hard to do. “What are you, a party expert now?”

Lance rolled his eyes. “You can’t be so closed-off! You have to be sincere! Show them you’re interested! We’re here to make a good first impression, and your bad personality isn’t gonna ruin that. Just smile and wave, Keith, be friendly.” Lance winked at Keith after, as if he’d shared a secret with the other Paladin. “Take it from me, I grew up in a Cuban family! We had parties all the time. Plus, I was pretty popular when I was in school—”

“Popular with who, Hunk’s family?” Pidge had come to break into the conversation, as per usual, and was now snickering behind her hand after her comment.

Lance put his hands on his hips as he glared down at Pidge, who didn’t appear the least bit worried. “At least I was old enough to go out. What did you do, stay up until midnight sipping a Capri Sun like the gremlin you are?”

Even when she was wearing those shoes, Pidge still had to tilt her head up a bit to look at Lance. “I was hacking into the Galaxy Garrison’s servers and making a mockery of their security. _And_ I did it while sipping a Capri Sun, thank you very much.” Pidge’s smug little smile made Keith’s lips twitch up as well, though that was also in part to the way Lance’s nose scrunched up in irritation.

Just as it looked like things were about to turn ugly, Shiro cut in, having finished discussing the night’s plans with Allura. “All right cadets, that’s enough. Save your energy for the party.”

Right, Keith almost forgot that was what this was all about. Unfortunate.

“We’re here to make a good impression, so I want everyone to be on their best behavior. No showing off, no being hostile to the residents,” Keith hunched his shoulders a bit at that, “and no starting fires in the middle of the banquet table. Am I clear?”

There was a collection of agreements, plus an addition of Pidge insisting that the fire incident was only ONE time. Shiro grinned and clapped Keith on the shoulder, beginning to head out. The others were already outside waiting. Allura and Coran were both excited to be out like this, and Hunk was curious about the cuisine and sights this planet had to offer. Lance and Pidge both scurried past Keith, just as eager as the rest of the team. Keith tilted his head back with a stifled groan.

* * *

 Maybe he should’ve thought to ask Shiro about what a party was actually like.

For one thing, Keith found that parties were loud. This planet had an odd, thrumming sort of noise that apparently passed for music. Keith could feel it pounding through the ground, but he couldn’t pinpoint where it was coming from. That wasn’t even mentioning the chatter of everyone at the party, which was closer to shouting than any actual talking.

Parties were also crowded. Keith had gotten bumped into three times in the past ten minutes. Granted, some of that was his own fault. You probably weren’t supposed to stand like a rock at a party, but that was the only thing Keith could think to do. He wasn’t a social butterfly like Lance and Hunk were, nor was he polite and charming like Allura or Shiro could be. Coran could hold a conversation about almost anything, with the decades of information and experience stored in his mind. Even Pidge, who, like Keith, hadn’t ever been to a party, was witty enough to hop into a conversation here and there.

Keith felt more isolated here than he had in the year he’d lived alone, in the desert.

As he stood still, Keith felt someone else bump into him. It all made him want to snarl, but when the alien turned to glance down at him, Keith was reminded of what Lance had told him. Just smile and wave, it was friendly but simple, right? With a small smile, Keith waved, to assure the alien that the run-in was no big deal. He hadn’t gotten a good look at the alien before they were moving on, and he heaved a sigh of relief. He needed to get out of the middle of this shit-show.

Making his way towards one of the tables, Keith slipped and nudged past several aliens who were either too caught up talking, or too busy dancing to care. The aliens here weren’t too odd looking, if you didn’t count their vibrant, glowing skin. They were tall and lanky, slender-figured but powerful. Keith had seen one knock a Galra soldier clean out. The way they were dancing was much more graceful than how most humans moved; it was a fluid sort of motion.

Finally, Keith got to one of the refreshment tables of the main floor, and he felt like he could breathe a little better. Getting lost in an array of laughing, grinding bodies wasn’t an ideal night for him. He didn’t even know where the rest of his team had gone, and a quick glance around assured him they weren’t nearby. Not that Keith wanted to ruin their night by sticking right beside them the whole time. It was just one lousy party. Quiznak, how hard could it be?

Passing a dull glance over the table, Keith found exactly what he expected to; that he recognized nothing. It was all colorful, blobby, or appeared to have an unnatural glow. Did everything on this freaking planet glow?

“You look a little lost, small one.” Keith started at the odd, very inhuman voice. He turned around to face the source, only to find them a bit closer than he’d have preferred. That was just to make sure their voice rose over the music, though, Keith was sure. The alien was big, even by the naturally-tall standards of their kind, and was a luminescent blue color. Their eyes were the most jarring, they were a lighter blue, and reminded Keith of a glacier.

The Paladin found himself stepping back. It was the alien from before, Keith realized. Though he hadn’t gotten the clearest look, he recognized the eyes. They had pinned onto him, earlier. “I’m not,” Keith responded, hoping he didn’t sound what Shiro would consider hostile. “I’m one of the Paladins,” he stated, though the alien probably already knew that. Why else would a human be wandering around?

The alien made a strange chiming sound that Keith presumed to be a laugh. “I see. Have you never been to a foreign party, before?”

No, he’d never been to any party before, was it that obvious? “Not really,” Keith answered, lacking any of the social inclination the others did. Usually he didn’t have to do the talking. “This is the first we’ve gotten invited to.”

“Interesting. I’m sure you are unfamiliar with our food, then? You were staring at it quite oddly a moment ago,” the alien chimed again. It wasn’t an unpleasant noise, Keith thought. It reminded him of the bells back on Earth. “Why don’t you come with me? I know a good selection of drinks. As our honored guest, free of charge, of course.”

Keith almost snorted. It wasn’t like he even knew what currency they used here, much less had any himself. He was hesitant to accept the invitation, he didn’t want to wander off and not let the others know where he was. Of course, that’s what they had all done. Keith could prove he wasn’t totally inept at this thing.

“Sure. Uh, my name’s Keith,” he said, just remembering that it was usually important to give an acquaintance your name. The alien cocked their head before repeating Keith’s name. He thought that the alien sounded masculine, but he couldn’t be sure, and he thought it’d be rude to ask.

“I’m Vysar, small one. Come with me, I’ll show you to the counter.” Keith stepped forward to follow Vysar, who began to weave their way through the crowds with a familiar expertise. It made Keith feel even more out of place, when he watched those around him fitting in like fish in water. He'd bet that was exactly how Lance was doing, and he’d probably brag about it to Keith later, too. The jerk who “knew all the party rules” but hadn’t shared any. There probably weren’t any, now that Keith thought about it.

A shoulder bumped into Keith (or, he thought it was a shoulder) and he shuffled a bit to the side. A long arm slipped around Keith’s waist, then, glowing blue as it tugged Keith close. Keith tensed almost immediately, uncomfortable with such close contact from someone he didn’t know. “Relax,” Vysar’s smooth, tinkling voice told him, squeezing Keith a bit and drawing a wince from him. Keith was considering if Shiro’s lecture would be worth snapping at the alien to not get so touchy. But, before he could think on it much, Vysar had managed to drag them both to the counter. It reminded Keith a lot of a bar. There was someone behind the counter making drinks, and a few aliens were sitting on stools sipping or giggling together.

Vysar stepped close to a table, pulling Keith up alongside. Right, Keith was over the close contact, by now. He weaseled out of Vysar’s grasp enough so that they were standing beside one another instead of tangled up. Vysar cut their eyes towards Keith. “Wait here, I’ll get you a drink.” Keith didn’t have a reason to argue. He watched Vysar head off towards the counter, but he lost sight of the alien soon, among the crowd of people still dancing. Keith let his gaze wander, watching them all move in ways that were sometimes impressive, and sometimes ridiculous. Keith let himself get lost in listening to the thrumming music which, although foreign to his ears, was somewhat soothing.

Soon, Vysar came back. They slipped out of the crowd with the same ease they’d gotten lost in it. “Come on, it’s crowded here. I know a place more quiet,” Vysar offered. In their hands, they held separate cups; one was wider and filled with a dusky liquid, while the other was thin and tall, filled with a blue, sparkling one. Keith was just as eager to get out of the middle of all that writhing, and thus he followed Vysar. The tall alien led Keith a bit away from the cluster, outside on a patio. They handed the glass of blue to Keith, who took it with a scrunch of his nose.

“The Blue Bomb is less strong, I know you have things to return to,” Vysar leaned against the counter as he looked down on Keith.

“Thanks. Are you…a frequenter, here?” Keith asked, unable to think of much else in way of conversation. Keith had gotten used to talking to his team, but even then, it’s not like he was a socialite.

“You could say that, I enjoy the atmosphere here. I enjoy seeing pretty faces even more.” Vysar’s eyes glinted, but Keith ascertained it was because of the lights dimming. He didn’t have a response to that, nor was he even sure Vysar was talking about him. They probably weren’t, and were trying to get Keith to talk about the women here. To escape that conversation, Keith hurried to take a sip of his drink, he wasn’t one to gush about others like that. To Keith’s surprise, the drink was cool, sweet, and refreshing. He’d expected to choke it down, but it was quite nice. It left a film over his tongue when he swallowed, reminding him of the powder residue that sour candy sometimes left.

“Do you like it?” Vysar watched Keith from over the top of their glass as they sipped their own drink, not once taking their gaze off the young Paladin.

Keith swallowed another sip. He didn’t want to appear ungrateful by not looking like he didn’t. “Yeah, it’s pretty good. We don’t really have much like this back home.” Not that Keith was the alcohol expert, he’d never touched an alcohol in his life.

“Excellent,” Vysar’s chiming voice lowered into what sounded like a purr. Keith felt a shudder crawl down his back, but he hid his discomfort with another sip. He didn’t notice how fast he was drinking, but he’d taken several now. Keith wasn’t sure how long it should take alcohol to hit you, but he was beginning to feel a bit dizzy. He chalked it up to the alien substance being stronger than Earth’s, regardless if Vysar had said it was weak. “Do you have somewhere to stay the night?”

Vysar’s sudden question caught Keith off guard. Blinking his eyes, Keith found that the sight of the alien before him was a bit blurry. “Yeah, I’ll go home with the others,” he answered in earnest. Home _was_ the other Paladins, and Allura and Coran. “Actually, I should go find them.” They were probably getting into trouble.

Vysar hummed and leaned forward. “Are you sure you can’t stay a while? Perhaps enjoy more of your drink, and my company?”

Well, fuck, was Keith going to be a jackass if he walked away? Probably. Keith gave an awkward smile, one he was sure looked as stupid as it felt, and started to raise his glass again.

“Keith, buddy, there you are!” Lance’s voice was loud and overenthusiastic when he called out. At least, to Keith it sounded that way, but what did he know about Lance?

Keith lowered the glass to look over at Lance, who was heading towards him and Vysar. Lance was smiling, but it was tight, and his eyebrows furrowed when he looked at the alien. “What are you doing way back here, man? Party’s inside!” Lance crowded beside Keith, who didn’t flinch away. Vysar narrowed his eyes down at Lance, annoyed with the interruption.

“This is Vysar,” Keith stated, as if it would mean anything to Lance. Lance nodded his head towards the alien.

“Nice to meet you, Vy. The name’s Lance, Paladin of the Blue Lion,” Lance’s smile widened and grew no friendlier. He turned towards Keith, then, and glanced down towards the glass in Keith’s hands. It was still fizzling a bit, and Keith had only drunk about a quarter of it. Lance’s eyes widened. “Keith, where’d you get that? Do you even know what’s in the alien drinks around here?!”

“You’re starting to sound like Shiro,” Keith grumbled, slurring on the letter "S" when he said it. “Vysar bought it for me.” Lance’s eyes narrowed as he shot a look towards Vysar, you know, the guy that was a total stranger.

“I was just being nice to a hero. I’d be happy to take him back, myself,” Vysar’s lips curved into a disarming, pointed smile. From the corner of his eye, Lance saw Keith starting to take another sip of the drink. Before he got the chance, Lance was smacking it out of his hand, sending the glass and its contents hurtling towards the floor.

“Lance!” Keith snapped. They had told him all night to be polite, and now Lance was the one slapping away drinks? “What’s your—”

“We’re leaving. Keith, shut your quiznak, and come on.” Lance grabbed Keith around the wrist and turned on his heel, dragging Keith away from a simmering Vysar. Keith caught the alien’s gaze once as he was being pulled off, and that same shudder chilled him again.

“Lance, what’s your problem? He only got me a drink, I was trying to be respectful, like, you know, you all said!”

Lance paused and turned an incredulous look onto Keith. “Only got you a drink?! You idiot, were you _actually_ raised by cacti, out there? You don’t take drinks from strangers, that’s like, the number one rule!”

Keith threw up his free arm, as Lance had still not let go of Keith’s other one. “No one ever said anything about that! I thought you made up the party rule thing!” he exclaimed, exasperated and now with a bite of worry. “What’s wrong with it? Do people poison drinks?” Was that a thing?

Lance stared at Keith for a moment, his eyes wide and with a mixture of horror and disbelief. Keith really had never been to a party—what was Lance thinking? Of course Keith hadn’t! Keith wasn’t a social, party-goer person, Keith and Shiro himself had both said Keith was a loner, and had been most of his life. How was he supposed to know? And Lance had let him go off on his own! With a shake of his head, Lance started off again, pulling Keith along. “Sort of, but you’re not gonna die. At least, I don’t think. I’m just gonna get you back to the castle, and you can probably sleep it off!”

Probably? Keith had a lot more questions, but up ahead, he could see Shiro and Allura, both conversing with passing aliens. Shiro noticed the two approaching, he started to wave, but his brows soon furrowed in concern. “What happened?” he asked, hardly before Lance had even stopped in front of him. It was obvious something was off.

“We let the _one_ guy who doesn’t have any idea what he’s doing go off on his own, can you believe that?!” Lance slapped his free hand to his forehead. Meanwhile, Keith was stuck standing there, and he felt his stomach swoop inside him. He bit back a groan, but Shiro glanced at him anyway.

“Buddy, you don’t look too good. Lance, tell me—”

“Keith went off with some weird alien and the guy bought him a drink, and Keith just took it, and I’m pretty sure the alien roofied him. Or, whatever passes for a roofie here.”

Roofie? Keith knew that, people coined it as the date rape drug, he’d read about it in some book back home. The alien had drugged him? And had been going to—

Keith’s stomach swooped again and he leaned too far to the right, almost stumbling. Shiro, whose eyes had hardened into something cold, glanced up at Keith. “I don’t feel good,” Keith groaned, raising a hand to his forehead.

Lance pursed his lips. “I’m gonna take him back, okay? You guys can stay.”

Shiro nodded. “That sounds fine. But first, Keith?” Keith looked up when he heard his name. “Can you tell me anything about the alien you were with?”

Keith thought hard, but the memory seemed blurry. “Blue, they were glowing blue, like a really intense blue,” he answered. Shiro glanced around. He saw a couple faintly blue aliens, not quite matching the bright description Keith had given. But, just to make sure, Shiro had a final question. “Anything else, Keith? A name, maybe?”

Keith clenched his jaw. Something with a V, right? After a moment, Keith’s eyes snapped open. “Vysar.”

Shiro nodded. “That’s good, you did good. Lance, take him back. We’ll see you later.”

“On it.”

* * *

 The way back to the castle was slow, but at least it was quiet. The crowds thinned as Lance led Keith away from the party, until it was just them. The noise took a bit longer to dissipate, but once it did, the pounding in Keith’s head lessened some, too. Keith had started to make Lance a little anxious, with the way he kept swaying a bit, obviously struggling with his balance. Lance slowed so that he was walking beside Keith instead of dragging him along. Just in case Keith did start to topple over, Lance would have a better chance of catching him. He kept a hand around Keith’s wrist, for insurance. Some of it was just because, though.

Lance had gone off on his own, just like the others had, to enjoy the party on his own time. A couple of drinks and a few conversations with the pretty, very grateful aliens, stuff like that. Lance had decided, somewhere around the hour mark, to glance around and check up on his fellow Paladins. Hunk looked caught up in what appeared to be some sort of magic show, Pidge looked like she was showing off one of her robots, and Shiro was with the Alteans. They looked to be holding a few good conversations, being all leader-y, that junk. That suited Lance fine, he’d leave the diplomacy to the team parents.

Wait, where was Keith? Lance passed another glance around the floor, trying to catch sight of the familiar red of Keith’s jacket, but he didn’t see it. Lance knew Keith could take care of himself, but that didn’t stop his hackles from rising a bit. With a flattering smile, Lance excused himself. He’d feel better knowing where Keith had wandered off to. Knowing Keith, he’d probably found a way to avoid the party altogether. Lance snorted and began to weave through the crowds, bouncing off dancers with familiar ease.

It had taken Lance almost ten minutes to determine Keith wasn’t anywhere on the main floors. He was another ten minutes from telling Shiro that they’d lost their Red Paladin, and would need to put up a "help wanted" sign for another. Maybe that bar-looking place? Lance didn’t take Keith for trying to drink, but it was worth a shot. Heading into the place, Lance was faced with giggling voices and the scent of something sharp, likely whatever passed for drinks in here.

Standing on his toes to look over some heads, Lance was about to give up in there, too, when he saw a familiar face. Keith was at a table, and Lance felt his shoulders sag. Well, he’d found him. Now, maybe Lance could go back and finish—who the hell was that?

A tall, vibrantly blue alien loomed over Keith and handed the boy a drink. Lance watched for a second, something gnawing at his chest. Keith wouldn’t take that, right? You don’t take drinks (or food) from strangers, especially on strange planets, that was just a common rule.

And you sure as hell didn’t walk off alone with them, either! Lance swore when he watched Keith follow the alien, who was leading him away from the crowds. Without a second thought, Lance shoved through the crowd without any of the grace he had before. He couldn’t let them get too far ahead of him. Fortunately, they hadn’t gotten far. The alien had drawn Keith out to the patio and they were standing against a railing, Keith was sipping from the glass. The way the alien leaned over Keith, too big, too _hungry_ , Lance felt something in him come to a boil.

He’d tried to tell himself to take it easy, to test the waters and see if this was just an alien who was too friendly. After all, it wasn’t like aliens were familiar with human social customs, right? But, once Lance got close enough, he could see the glaze in Keith’s eyes, and hear the way his fellow Paladin was messing up his speech. Lance turned his eyes onto the alien, who had bared their teeth. Before Keith could take another sip, Lance had knocked the glass out of his hand and started to yank him away before any more damage could be done.

Of course. Of course, Keith hadn’t understood. He had probably thought the alien was just being friendly. Shiro had told Keith to try and be polite, and Lance had even stated that Keith didn’t even know what to do at a party, he didn’t know _the rules._ It had been a joke. None of them had even thought to stick with Keith, to at least make sure he wasn’t too uncomfortable. No, they’d all gotten caught up in their own thing, and had left Keith on his own. How was he supposed to know you didn’t take hand-outs from strangers? To anyone who didn’t know better, it looked like a sweet, genuine gift. It didn’t look like the ugly truth; a ruse, a ploy to drug someone, to lure them into a trap and to—

Lance cut those thoughts off. He had Keith now, it was fine, Keith would be fine. They were lucky Keith hadn’t ingested more of whatever the alien had given him, at least he could still walk. Lance was hopeful that Keith could sleep it off and be back to his normal, grumpy self in the morning. A part of Lance had wanted to stay, to go and find that alien and ruin him for trying to traumatize Keith, and had no doubt tried the same on others. But, Lance knew he couldn’t. Keith needed him—or, well, he needed _someone_ to take him back. He’d be totally fine once Lance got him into his room, he’d probably tell Lance to screw off the second they were there. Plus, Shiro had it under control, Lance had faith in that. Hell, he wished he could see the alien once he’d been through the wringer!

The castle came into view soon, and Lance nudged Keith a bit. “Look, we’re almost there? Think you can hold out until then?” Keith muttered something that sounded annoyed, but affirmative. Lance snickered, being careful as he helped Keith up the ramp, which looked like it felt more like a mountain to Keith. Their rooms were further into the castle, and somewhere along the way, the mice showed up, squeaking concern. “He’s fine—he’ll be fine,” Lance started, only to correct himself. “He just needs some sleep. Think you can guard for us?” Lance was smiling, joking, but he knew the mice wanted to help in some way.

Smashing the panel to Keith’s door, Lance watched it swing open and invite them in with a burst of cool air. Keith shivered, but he’d never been happier to see his room. He stumbled in, and the door shut behind them automatically. Keith sunk down onto his bed with a sigh, quivering muscles and jumbled mind both surging with relief. Lance sat down too, having been quickly dragged down by Keith collapsing onto the mattress. “Easy,” Lance told him, “see, you made it!”

Yeah, by two seconds, if that. Keith wasn’t even properly on the bed, he was just thankful he’d made it this far, because he doubted Lance would have carried him up there. In fact, Keith was surprised Lance had stayed with him this far. “All right, c’mon, let’s get you out of your shoes and jacket. Only heathens sleep in those,” Lance muttered, as if offended by the thought. Keith wasn’t of much help, but he at least lay still as Lance weaseled off the shoes and red jacket. “You know,” Lance started, busy with tugging the blanket back and shoving Keith under it, “you freaked me out.”

Keith opened his glassy eyes to look up at Lance, just managing to focus on the boy. “When I noticed you were gone, I thought you’d wanted to get out of having to be at the party. Then I saw you with that alien, and I saw the drink, and I just...” Fuck, what was Lance doing? The only reason he was even saying it was because Keith was so out of it, and that Lance was sure he wouldn’t remember much of this in the morning. “I’m sorry. We fucked up in letting you go off alone like that, we should have all stuck together.”

Keith was starting to wonder if the drug was making him hallucinate, because Lance, apologizing? “It wasn’t your fault,” Keith murmured, as if it were vital that he get that out no matter how uncooperative his voice. Lance started and looked down at Keith, who was looking back at him, his hair a mess and his eyes shining but still somewhat focused. “That was on the alien, not you, or the others. I should have known better, too. I told Shiro I wasn’t good with this, didn’t I?” Keith offered Lance a shaky smile, and yeah, that drug really messed with him. Both Keith’s head and stomach were aching with a fierce anger, but he needed Lance to understand. Keith didn’t blame anyone but the alien, how were any of them supposed to anticipate something like that happening? Keith prided himself on being perceptive and wary, and he’d still ended up in this position.

Lance couldn’t help a small snicker, though the humor was dampened. “Yeah, I guess I should stop ragging on your anti-social deal, it keeps you out of trouble.” Lance sighed and started to stand, but a weak grip circled around his wrist. Surprised, he shot a look down at where Keith’s hand held onto him. “Keith, buddy, you okay?”

“You don’t have to go. I mean, if you want to get back to the party, then you should.” Keith rushed to correct himself after realizing what he let slip, without his filter being as strong as it normally was. He was exhausted, but more than that, he felt too on edge to fall asleep. Not without some sort of distraction. Not like he’d beg Lance to stay or anything, he could go back and flirt with all the aliens he wanted, Keith didn’t want to get in the way any more than he already had.

Lance was quiet as he stared at Keith for a few seconds, in which Keith regretted opening his mouth. Without a word, though, Lance sat back down on the bed, kicked his shoes off, and lay down beside Keith. Keith was glad the room was dim, because he could feel his face growing warm. Just another stupid side effect. That’d all be gone in the morning, right?

Lance moved his arm from where Keith had grabbed him, and raised it up to brush Keith’s hair out of his face. “Get some sleep. I won’t go anywhere.”

Keith had heard that before, but let his eyes close all the same. In the morning, they would probably go back to arguing over something stupid. But, for the night, Keith needed to feel safe.

Lance was happy to provide that.

**Author's Note:**

> I was bouncing ideas off of my best friend and happened to consider this one, and it turned into a thing. I also wrote about half of it before going to his house to watch the second season, and then I finished the second half of it after binging all of the new episodes, and I am a completely changed person??? I came home at like eight at night and my hands were shaking when I was trying to write THAT IS how much the new season fucked me up. Good luck if you’re gonna watch it, fam. 
> 
> I sort of considered writing, like, the other Paladins learning about what happened and what their reactions might be, but this is already at 5k as it is and I guess I don’t feel like it’d add too much. Still, feel free to drop headcanons about what you think their reactions went down like. Personally, I think Shiro broke some(one)thing last night, and Pidge was totally down to fry an alien.


End file.
